SUTLEJ, a river of India, one of the " Five Rivers " of the Punjab. It rises E.S.E. of the Manasarowar lakes in Tibet, at an elevation of about 15,200 ft., threads its way through the gorges of the Himalayas with heights of 20,000 ft. on either side, crosses Bashahr and the Simla hill states, and enters the British district of Hoshiarpur. Thence it flows through the plains of the Punjab, receives the Beas in Kapurthala state, and joins the Chenab near Madwala. From that point the whole river bears the name of Panjnad (" five rivers ") until it falls into the Indus near Mithankot after a course of 900 m. In the time of Ranjit Singh the Sutlej formed the boundary line between the Sikh and British dominions, and the Sikh states south of the river still bear the title of Cis-Sutlej.
The Sutlej supplies two systems of irrigation works: the Sir-hind canal, which draws off the whole of the cold season supply of the Sutlej at Rupar, too m. above its junction with the
Beas; and the inundation canals of the Upper and Lower Sutlej, Ferozepur and Bahawalpur, which come below the junction.